Texas STAAR Scores Show Reading Gains, Mixed Math Results Across Grades

According to the most recent STAAR results announced by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) on Tuesday, reading scores for elementary and middle school students in Texas got a little better in 2025, but math scores stayed the same.

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores show that more students in grades 3 through 8 are meeting reading standards for their grade level across the state. There have also been small improvements in math scores, but most of them are still below where they were before the pandemic.

Reading scores went up from 46% in third grade in 2024 to 49% in 2025, and from 54% in eighth grade to 56%. It went from 40% of third graders to 44% (up from 40%) meeting grade-level math standards. It also went from 40% to 45% for eighth graders. Still, performance in a number of grades, especially in middle school math, is still a cause for concern.

In Central Texas, reading scores went up from 58.2% to 59.5% in 14 school systems, and math scores went up from 44.2% to 45.2%.

Austin ISD, which has 72,700 kids, did better in reading than math, which was the same as the state average. It went from 56% to 58% of third graders to meet reading level, and it went from 53% to 58% of eighth graders. In math, third graders got better, going from 41% to 47%, and eighth graders got better from 41% to 47%. But sixth and seventh graders got worse, with only 35% and 21% hitting grade level, respectively.

Even though the district as a whole has made success, Austin's economically disadvantaged and bilingual students are still not doing as well as their peers across the state. For example, only 24% of third graders from low-income families in Austin hit grade level in math, compared to 34% across the state.

Students who took the STAAR test in Spanish, which was offered through fifth grade, also made some progress but were still behind. Only 8–9% of third graders did as well as they should have in math and reading.

Fifth and eighth graders in Austin made small gains in science and social studies. For example, from 2024 to 2025, eighth students' social studies scores went up by 2%.

Reading skills are still getting better after COVID, but math is still hard, especially for groups that are already at risk. This shows that students will need more specialized help in the 2025–2026 school year.

At TexasAssessment.gov, parents can see how each student did on the test. At txresearchportal.com, you can find info for the whole district.

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